The rear seat of a police vehicle is configured for the transportation of prisoners. The conventional upholstered rear seats of an automobile vehicle are replaced by molded plastic seats that can be easily cleaned. Typically, handcuffed prisoners are placed into one of the molded plastic seat and secured by a seat belt, requiring the officer to reach across the handcuffed prisoner to reach the seat belt, pull the seat belt across the prisoner, and secure the seat belt hasp into the anchored latch. This procedure involves some risk for the officer, particularly when the prisoner is unruly, uncontrolled and/or sick. In addition, a handcuffed prisoner can reach the seat belt latch to cause the latch to release, which means that the prisoner would be unsecured in the rear seat and a safety concern.
One configuration of a molded plastic rear seat for a police vehicle is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,246, issued on May 15, 1990, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,672, issued on Feb. 26, 1991, both to Dan E. Corcoran, and includes downwardly converging channels for receiving the arms of a handcuffed prisoner. U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,672 also teaches a seat belt restraint system for use with the molded contoured rear seat that includes an upper shoulder belt mounted in the sides of the vehicle that can be extended downwardly and across the handcuffed prisoner to be secured by a latch member anchored at the middle portion of the contoured seat.
A supplemental restraint system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,712,200, granted on May 11, 2010, and in U.S. Pat. No. 7,922,254, granted on Apr. 12, 2011, both to Keith D. Squires, et al, in which a retractable strap is mounted behind a police vehicle seat to extend through the seat to be secured directly to the handcuffs of a prisoner being transported. Once the clasp is secured to the handcuffs, the strap is retracted to and locked into place to prevent the prisoner from moving out of the seat. When the prisoner is to be moved out of the seat, the locked retraction mechanism is released to allow the strap to be extended by the movement of the prisoner and the clasp released from the handcuffs.
Another form of a supplemental restraint mechanism for the transport of a prisoner is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,235, granted to Kiran B. Magiawala on May 26, 1998. In this supplemental restraint mechanism, the prisoner's feet are secured by a secondary belt located near the floor to secure the prisoner's feet and prevent the transported prisoner from kicking.
It would be desirable to provide a supplemental prisoner restraint system in which the officer securing the prisoner in the rear seat of the police vehicle would have minimal exposure to safety risks associated with the securement of the prisoner for the transportation thereof within the police car. It would also be desirable to permit a convenient release of the supplemental restraint system.